Michael Clarke hit a majestic unbeaten 329 before declaring Australia’s first innings at 659 for four with a lead of 468 on the third day of the second Test against India at the Sydney Cricket Ground yesterday.
India, despite facing a fine spell from paceman Ben Hilfenhaus, were 114-2 at the close of play, with opener Gautam Gambhir (68) and Sachin Tendulkar, who had made 8 from 42 balls, set to resume on day four.
The Australia captain’s triple-century was just the 25th in Test cricket and the fourth-highest Test score by an Australian. It was also the 14th highest by any batsman and the highest in 100 Tests over more than a century at the ground.
Photo: Reuters
More importantly for Australia, with support from Ricky Ponting (134) and Mike Hussey (150 not out), Clarke’s innings rescued the hosts from 37-3 and put them in an excellent position to take a 2-0 lead in the four-match series. Clarke brought up the 300 shortly after lunch, flicking the ball through midwicket off the bowling of Ishant Sharma for the 37th four of his innings, becoming the 21st cricketer to reach the milestone.
The 30-year-old righthander whipped off his helmet to acknowledge a standing ovation from the 31,000 crowd at his home ground and pointed toward his teammates in the dressing room.
SELFLESS
Selflessly passing up the chance to break any more records, Clarke called time on his best Test innings a ball after Hussey had reached his 150, leaving his bowlers two-and-a-half days to get the tourists out.
“As I’ve learned throughout my career, making hundreds is useless if you don’t win Test matches, so the most important thing for me is to win this Test,” Clarke said. “I think we’ve given ourselves the best chance to do that.”
Clarke had faced 478 balls, batted for 10 hours and 17 minutes, and scored 40 boundaries when he left the pitch to another huge ovation from a crowd largely dressed in pink in honor of former paceman’s Glenn McGrath’s breast cancer charity.
Hussey and his captain had put on 334 for the fifth wicket, eclipsing the previous highest partnership for Australia against India of 288, which Clarke set with Ricky Ponting on Wednesday.
Australia’s pace attack, which dismissed India for 191 in their first innings, made an early breakthrough when Hilfenhaus removed opener Virender Sehwag for 4 courtesy of an athletic catch from David Warner with just 18 runs on the board.
The big paceman returned to bowl Rahul Dravid through the gate for 29 with a beautiful delivery and he and James Pattinson ensured Gambhir and Tendulkar had anything but a comfortable passage to stumps.
Clarke started the day on 251 and, understandably tired after batting through Wednesday, took time to find his rhythm, even if he never looked troubled as Hussey kept the scoreboard ticking over at the other end.
A cover drive for four off Ishant Sharma 10 minutes before lunch allowed him to pass Englishman R.E. Foster’s high score of 287 at the ground, but he was forced to wait until after the break to reach the 300.
Hussey had started the day on 55 and played superbly to reach his 16th Test century, vindication for a player in his mid-30s with his place in the side under pressure after a poor run of form.
TOUGH JOB AHEAD
India’s batsmen face a Herculean task to rescue the Test and keep alive their hopes of winning a first series in Australia. They lost the opener in Melbourne by 122 runs last week.
“I think we’ve just got to go out tomorrow and show some fight,” Dravid said.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was